preiss



R E. PREISS Feb. 14, 1956 OAR HOLDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 10, 1952 I 6 J 5 N& a a J j J 7 3 6% araI 1 734 55 R. E. PREISS Feb. 14-, 1956 OAR HOLDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 10, 1952 JWGMI/ZOX likiardI/Qeplz: 62 4 United States Patent Oflice 2,734,265 Patented Feb. 14, 1956 OAR HOLDER Richard E. Preiss, Chicago, Ill.

Application April 10, 1952, Serial No. 281,515

1 Claim. (Cl. 9-1) The invention relates generally to oar-supporting structures, and more particularly to a holder adapted to support an oar when not in use.

' The invention has among its objects the production of an oar holder which may be readily mounted on the gunwale of a boat in a position to support an oar when not in use, such device being designed to be readily removable when desired and adapted to fit boats of different sizes. 7

Another object of the invention is the production of such'an oar holder. of exceedingly simple construction which may comprise only a single piece of material, requiring no separate mounting screws or other means, which'is eflicient in operation and inexpensive to manufacture.

A further object of the invention is the production of such an oar holder which is so designed that it may also serve as a bumper for the boat when approaching a pier or dock, thus preventing damage to the boat, and which may also be employed as a meansfor securing a fish stringer, net, minnow bucket or the like to the boat.

Many other objects and advantages of the construction herein shown and described will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein given.

To this end my invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and combination of parts herein shown and described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like or corresponding parts:

Fig. 1 isa transverse sectional view through the gunwale and associated portion of a boat with my oar holder mounted thereon;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the structure-illustrated in Fig. 1;

i Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the car holder illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig; 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 of a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 5 is'a perspective view similar to Fig. 3 of a modified form of construction;

Fig. 6 is'a view similar to Fig. 1 of the application of the device illustrated in Fig. 5 to the gunwale of a boat;

and

Fig. 7 is an elevational view of another modification of the structure illustrated in Fig. 3.

In the'past there have been structures designed for supporting an oar when it is not in use, which holders or rests have been mounted on the gunwale of a boat, such devices, however, being attached by means of screws or bolts to form a permanent part of the boat structure and they have normally embodied a number of pieces secured together, in some cases a pivoted structure beingemployed so that the oar-receiving portion may be rotated into the boat to prevent damage to the holder if the boat strikes a dock or pier.

The present invention contemplates a structure which may be fabricated from a single piece of material and is so designed that it may be readily mounted on or removed from a boat without requiring any additional mounting means such as screws or the like, .the device being sufliciently small that it may be kept in a tackle box when not in use. Thus the fisherman may utilize a rented boat, readily attaching his own oar holders or rests thereto and, following use of the boat, may readily remove the devices for storage and subsequent use. The present oar holder is also so designed that it may be readily mounted on gunwales of different widths or thicknesses so that a single structure will fit and may be used, on substantially all small boats regardless of their make or size. In contrast with prior devices, the present invention is so designed that it may also serve as a bumper for the boat, thus preventing damage to the latter when approaching a pier or dock.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates generally an oar holder or rest illustrated in Fig. 1 as being mounted on a gunwale G of a boat. As clearly shown in Fig. 3, the oar holder 1 illustrated, may be formed from a single piece of strip material, preferably metal which has a relatively high degree of inherent resilience. One end of the strip is bent to form an inverted generally U-shaped portion 2 comprising legs 3 and 4 connected by an intermediate connecting member 5. y The intermediate portion of the strip is then doubled'back along the leg 4 so that the portion 6 extends generally parallel to the leg 4, with the V opposite end of the strip being bent to form a generally U-shaped portion 7, the legs 8 and 9 of which extend upwardly whereby an oar may be positioned between the legs 8 and 9 and rest upon the intermediate part or por-' tion 11.

' As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, the legs 3 and 4 of the inverted U-shaped portion 2 converge toward their outer ends with the extreme end 12 of the leg3 being bent outwardly to provide a rounded boat engaging surface 13. The leg 4 is likewise provided with a similar boat engaging surface 14 formed as a result of the bend 15 between the leg 4 and the intermediate portion 6.

In use the inverted U-shaped portion is snapped over the gunwale G of the boat as illustrated in Fig. 1, with the legs 3 and 4 being spread outwardly to permit such mounting whereby the inherent resilience of the material comprising the holder will result in the application of pressure at the curved portions 13 and 14 to the adjacent boat structure thereby firmly clamping the device on the boat. In use one of the holder will be attached to each side of the boat, each holder being positioned a sufiicient distance from its corresponding oar lock on the boat to permit adequate support for an oar when the latter is inserted in the upwardly extending U-shaped portion 7,

. whereby the oar is supported above the water.

It will be noted that with this construction, the upwardly extending U-shaped portion 7 extends laterally outward from the side of the boat and as the device is constructed of relatively resilient material which will not be readily deformed to a set position upon the application of force thereto, such outwardly extending portion will also function as a bumper for the boat, cushioning any shocks occasioned by engagement of the device with a pier or dock and preventing damage to the boat or its finish. It will be further noted that the channel 16 formed between the leg 4 and intermediate portion 6 provides a means for supporting objects from the boat such as fish stringers, nets, minnow buckets, or the like, the structure forming the channel 16 in eflect providing a hook over which a cord C may be positioned, as illusture forming the oar-holding portion 7' is positioned directly above the inverted U-shaped mounting portion 2'. In this embodiment of the invention, the mounting portion 2 is formed intermediate the ends of the strip from which the device is constructed and, as in the case of the structure illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, is provided with a pair of legs 3' and 4 connected by an intermediate member 5, with the legs 3 and 4 converging toward their free ends. The free end portions 17 of the strip are then doubled back with the bends 18 forming the respective gunwale engaging surfaces 19. The ends 17 extend upwardly as indicated at 21 to adjacent the juncture of the legs 3' and 4 with the intermediate member 5 and then extend generally upward therefrom to form a pair of legs 22. Thus the legs 22 and intermediate member 5 generally define an upwardly extending U-shaped portion or structure 7 adapted to receive a portion of an oar, with the legs 22 corresponding to the legs 8 and 9 and the member 5' corresponding to the portion 11; the member 5', however, being common to both of the U-shaped portions 2' and 7. In the embodiment of the invention iliusmounted on the gunwale of a boat in the same manner as the device illustrated in Fig. 3, with the inverted U-shaped portion comprising the legs 3, 4 and intermediate member 5 engaging the gunwale G, the inherent resiliency of the material permitting the legs 3 and 4' to be spread a sufiicient distance to permit reception of the boat gunwale, so that the surfaces 19 will exert pressure on the adjacent surfaces of the boat and firmly retain the device on the boat.

It will be apparent that in use a portion of the oar is inserted between the legs 22 and permitted to rest on the member 5, the legs 22, however, if desired being so designed that they will exert a desired amount of pressure on the oar so the latter may be more or less snapped into place whereby the holder will provide sufiiciently firm support for the oar to prevent undesired displacement thereof but at the same time allow ready removal of the same from the holder. In this construction, either of the ends 18 may be utilized for supporting other objects from the device by inserting a cord or the like between the respective legs 3' or 4 and the portions 21, the metal forming the structure preferably having sutficient resilience that either of the legs 22 and associated portions 21 may be spread a sufiicient distance to permit the cord or other member to pass between the portion 21 and the adjacent surfaces of the inverted U- shaped portion 2. Likewise, while the device illustrated in Fig. 4 does not extend as far outwardly from the side of the boat as the structure illustrated in Fig. 3, the portion 21 at the exterior of the boat may provide some protection to the boat structure when approaching a pier or dock.

The oar holder illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 is generally similar to the construction illustrated in Fig. 3 embodying a pair of generally U-shaped portions and 7a, corresponding to the portions 2 and 7 of the construction illustrated in Fig. 3. With the exception of the leg 3, the portion 2a is substantially the same as the portion 2, including leg 4, intermediate member 5, and the portion 7a including legs 8 and 9 and intermediate portion 11. The portion 7a is connected to the portion 2a by the portion 6 extending generally parallel to the leg 4 and providing a channel 16 for supporting other objects therefrom.

The leg 3' is preferably longer than the leg 4 and terminates in a bend 24, the strip forming the device being bent upwardly thereat to form a member 25. Extending laterally from the upper end of the member is a generally horizontally extending member 26. As illustrated in Fig. 6, the member 25 preferably diverges outwardly slightly from the bend 24 and the angle between the members 25 and 26 is preferably slightly less than a right angle so that the member 26 is slightly inclined downwardly from its juncture with the member 25. Thus, when applied to the gunwale of a boat, the curved surfaces 14 and 27 will engage the side surfaces of the gun- Wale and the free end portion will engage the top of the gunwale.

This construction extends the range of the device to accommodate a greater number of difierent sized gunwales than the previous forms of the invention described, at the same time providing a firm engagement with the boat.

The construction illustrated in Fig. 7 likewise is generally similar to that illustrated in Fig. 3, the intermediate portion 511, however, being connected to the legs 3 and 4 by bends or loops 31 of relatively large radius, and the intermediate portion 5a having an intermediate bend 32 therein forming a pair of gunwale engaging portions 33 adjacent the respective junctures of the ends of the member 5a with the bends or loops 31. This construction tends to distribute the mounting stresses over a greater portion of the strip and permits greater spreading of the legs 4 and 5 without deforming the device. The operation of this construction is otherwise generally the same as the other form of the invention. Likewise, this construction is also applicable to a holder such as that illustrated in Fig. 4.

It will be noted from the above description that I have provided on car holder of extremely simple construction, which may comprise a single piece of material and which is very efficient for the purposes intended. Likewise, the device is so constructed that it may be readily manufactured by means of a series of stamping or forming operations so that it could be readily manufactured by means of suitable machines and at extremely low cost. It will also be apparent that the present invention provides other advantages such as serving as a bumper and as a means for attaching other objects to the side of the boat.

Having thus described my invention, it is obvious that various immaterial modifications may be made in the same without departing from the spirit of my invention; hence, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the exact form, construction, arrangement and combination of parts herein shown and described, or uses mentioned.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

An oar holder for application to and removal from the gunwale of a boat at will, said holder being formed from a length of resilient metal stock provided with spaced bends to provide two substantially U-shaped portions with their legs extending in diametrically opposite direc tions, the adjacent legs of the two said U-shaped portions providing channel means for supporting an object suspended therefrom, the legs of one of saidportions being joined by a lateral connecting member of a length sufiicient to span the upper surface of a boat gunwale, and said last-named legs being resilient and of substantially equal length and having their ends converging remote from said connecting member and provided with reverse terminal bends which furnish contacting means whereby to embrace with line contact and frictionally grip the Opposite lateral surfaces of the gunwale, the legs of the other U-shaped member providing between them an opensocketdike rest for a portion of an oar and serving as a bumper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 418,420 North et al. Dec. SI, 1889 468,873 Hardendorf Feb. l6, 1892 810,004 Tabler Jan. 16, 1906 944,022 Eken Dec. 21, 1909 1,119,695 Hatch Dec. 1, 1914 (Other references on following page) UNITED STATES PATENTS Pierce et a1 Aug. 13, 1918 Fennimore June 27, 1922 Rader June 21, 1927 Gates -2 May 3, 1932 6 Granger Apr. 28, 1942 Scheckel July 12, 1949 6 FOREIGN PATENTS France Dec. 24, 1924 OTHER REFERENCES Popular Mechanics Boat Book, page 236, Popular Mechanics Press, Chicago, 1935. 

